MADISON — Three boys basketball teams from Northeast Wisconsin all had an opportunity to play for a gold ball on Saturday at Kohl Center and all three came away with a silver one.
Division 3:
Freedom fought as hard as they could and took it all the way down to the wire against Milwaukee Academy of Science, but the Irish couldn't hit on a game-tying three-point attempt to lose 57-54.
"Obviously, love the way we competed," said Irish head coach Andrew Gibbions. "(There was) a ton of heart from everybody. I thought we did a great job of just responding to everything that was going on all game. It sucks coming up short like that, but love the way we battled here."
The Irish led 34-28 at the half as sophomore Donovan Davis had a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Drew Kortz had 15.
However, the Novas found their stride in the second half and at one point were on a 22-8 run to give themselves an 8-point lead before Freedom's comeback failed.
Novas Devin Brown had himself a ballgame, finishing with 17 points and 19 rebounds.
Davis finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds and Kortz had a game-high 29 in his last appearance as a part of the Irish.
"Just making to state was our main goal and we got here, we competed, we did all the things we could," said Davis. "We controlled what we could and just like last buzzer, it's going to sting for like a week or so but like two week later we're just going to have to work for next year."
Division 4:
Bonduel had already made school history this year by making their first state tournament appearance.
Now they're making school history again, but not with a gold ball — They're taking home a silver one as they ran into sharpshooting Aquinas in the Division 4 state title game, falling by a score of 74-45.
"I talked today before the game a little bit, there would be a best outcome today, but there is no bad outcome," said Bears head coach Duke Copp. "I think that's the way we're taking it. We had a heck of a season and we're going to cherish that for the rest of our lives."
The Bears had an early lead, but the Blugolds went scorched earth making shot after shot, three-attempt after three-attempt.
In the first half, Aquinas made 66% of their shots from the floor and 54% from beyond the arc. They were up 18 at the half and never looked back.
Bears junior Ryan Westrich and sophomore Carter Moesh both had a team-high 11 points.
For Bonduel senior Race Anvelink, he's proud of the new standard this Bears team has set as he gets set to graduate.
"It means everything to me to set the standard for me to set the standard for this program and the younger kids — the younger generations coming up," said Anvelink. "They kind of looked up to us a lot and I hope they can do the same thing in the future."
Division 5:
Sheboygan Lutheran is also going home with a silver ball, as they were defeated by Cochrane-Fountain City, 60-54.
The Crusaders had an early seven-point lead, but found themselves down 6 at halftime as the Pirates Cameron Lipinski hit a buzzer-beating three to give his team momentum heading into the break.
They would get as close as one point, but Sheboygan Lutheran were never able to regain the lead.
Brennan Hackbarth had a game-high 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Crusaders.
Porter Ehrat had a team-high 18 for Cochrane-Fountain City to help his squad win a gold ball.
